Maoists held for abduction, murder

Bhubaneswar, June 14 (IANS) Two hard core Maoists, hailing from Jharkhand and allegedly involved in several crimes in Odisha, including kidnapping and murder of a police officer were arrested from a forest area, police said Thursday.

Sudhir Bhuyan and Habil Haro were nabbed by a team of police and paramilitary force personnel during a joint operation in the Saranda forest located near the steel city of Rourkela in Sundergarh district, over 500 km from here.

Both of them were active members of Communist Party of India-Maoist and belonged to Jharkhand, a police official told IANS.

They have confessed to their involvements in several crimes including in the kidnapping and murder of police sub inspector Ajit Bardhan three years ago, he added.

Bardhan, a police sub-inspector was abducted and murdered by the rebels in the Jharbeda area of Sundergarh district in July 2009.